Maldives to hold trial hearing of Jumhoory Party leader Sunday

The Criminal Court has scheduled to hold a trial for one of the three charges against Jumhoory Party’s leader Qasim Ibrahim on Sunday afternoon.

The state is pressing three charges against the lawmaker of Maamigili constituency for attempted bribery, coercion with regards to official duties and undue influence on voters in connection to the previous motion of no confidence submitted by the opposition against the parliament speaker.

According to Qasim’s legal team, the trial scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Sunday is for the charge of attempted bribery. His lawyers said that they received notice of the scheduled trial Sunday itself.

The court had previously scheduled a preliminary hearing for last Friday which was later cancelled.

“That day [the preliminary hearing] was cancelled, but the notice sent today says it’s a trial hearing today. A trial hearing cannot be held without a preliminary hearing,” said Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem of Qasim’s legal team.